Chapter 28
The spring rains had decided to come early, probably just to vex him. The Retainer glanced first at the stormy clouds then at his armor. 'I wonder if this can be dry cleaned.'
He shook his head. Luckily, he'd had the foresight to bring enough to bring a relatively large umbrella with him. It wasn't the most glamorous way to keep dry, but building some sort of psychic barrier to moisture or something similarly cool would have taken far too much time and energy to be worth it. As with most things, laziness won.
The nice thing about the rain was the fact that people wouldn't be out if they could possibly help it. And when there were outside, they'd be too busy looking at the ground rather than staring at the sky. For once, he could actually go outside in the daylight instead of wrecking his sleep schedule with continuous night rendezvous.
He yawned and rubbed his eyes uncontrollably. The Retainer, or more specifically Kevin, was in dire need of sleep. The past couple of nights had been hard ones. The college student had been hard at work, struggling to prepare for his end of the term exams while writing upwards of ten pages a week of his social science research paper. Kevin had been sleeping only four or five hours a night while still struggling to maintain his job at juku and his tutoring schedule with Minako.
It had devolved into a situation where he would be in class and work from nine in the morning to four in the afternoon, would then work until ten at night, and then would write until he collapsed from exhaustion at around three in the morning. His alarm would wake him up at seven in order to get in a little more writing and reading before class.
The stress might have been unbearable for a normal human, but Kevin was lucky enough to have hidden reserves to draw upon. As Artemis had so aptly pointed out, the currents of magic allowed savvy users to recharge and regenerate.
The Retainer closed his eyes and reached out into those murky waters, surrounding himself with strands of magical energy. He drew the energy back into himself, wondering at the tingling feeling dancing through his body.
He had never quite gotten used to the rush which accompanied every experience. Strength instantly returned to his weary muscles and he felt the heaviness from his eyes drop away. He felt his senses begin to recover from the lack of sleep and he began to notice things that he did not before. Rather than opening his eyes, he let his mind soar into higher planes of existence, feeling the magic propel him to even higher heights than before.
Then, in a sudden movement, he opened his eyes, letting the light stream into them like a beam of pure delight. Every breath that he took set his lungs aflame, consuming the air and replacing it with liquefied pleasure. The euphoria blasted into him, sparking feelings of megalomania. He could feel the power coursing through his fingertips and knew that there was nothing beyond his reach. If only for an instant, the Retainer knew that he could take on an army, a nation, even Serenity herself if he chose.
The happiness was almost orgasmic and he sat back heavily to regain his bearings. The return to reality was always a little disappointing. His hands trembled from the effort and he laughed softly. Aside from that, everything was right with the world.
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Sailor Venus hugged herself and wondered why she was so stubborn about weather. She had seen the reports on TV, checked the internet, and had even looked outside to see if she needed to bring an umbrella or something.
All the evidence had pointed towards rain. And she had, quite simply, ignored all the evidence. Venus sighed and blew a strand of damp hair out of her face. She could shield herself from most of the drops, but meeting on the roof of an office building did have its drawbacks in the lack of overhangs to huddle underneath.
It was hard to make out the Tokyo skyline because of the rain and the fog that accompanied it, so she was bored too. 'Ah, the glamorous life of the beautiful Sailor Venus. Waiting in the rain for people you don't know and probably won't like.'
Venus brooded on that thought for a moment, until she realized that raindrops were no longer splashing on her head. She chuckled. "Thanks. I was wondering when you might show up."
The Retainer moved next to her, all the time keeping the umbrella over her head. "I had some business to finish up."
"Another criminal?"
He shook his head. "No, nothing like that. Just some personal issues."
Venus smiled. "You are a mysterious one. I'll give you that."
"It is my shield, Lady Venus. Besides, it gets me in the tabloids."
"I do recall seeing you in the newspapers a little while back. And I thought you didn't want people finding out who you were!"
He shrugged. "I didn't...but apparently the press had their own opinion on that matter."
Venus slapped him lightly on the arm. "Forgive them. They need their sensationalist stories."
"I just wish they wouldn't use me as the subject is all."
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"You know, I've always liked this place."
Venus looked away from the flowerbed she was tending. "Why is that?"
"I'm not sure. I've just always felt very comfortable here."
The princess laughed and jumped onto his back. "Well maybe it's because I'm here?"
The Retainer winced, then shot a glare at her. "You make my life more difficult not easier."
"You love me and you know it."
The man shrugged off her weight, sending her sprawling on the ground, and replied jovially. "I despise you wholeheartedly, milady."
"Hmmph. It's times like these when I wonder why I still keep you around."
The Retainer moved to sit on the grass next to her. "Because you need me to curb your excesses, milady."
She shook her head and flopped back onto the grass. Her eyes traced up the great glass dome and stared at the roiling clouds just above. Venus was a wild and beautiful planet, but rather inhospitable to life of any sort. Even with the aid of magic, the first settlers had died in droves from the soaring temperatures and unpredictable lava flows. To combat this, they had pooled their resources to create massive habitat domes in order to provide protection for living and food.
One of the princess's illustrious ancestors had laid the foundation for the first of the renowned domed cities of Venus, named Ishtar Luna, the Fertile Moon.
It was from that line of hardy survivors that the vaunted Sailor Venus descended. She smiled with a vicarious pride before her thoughts were interrupted by the soldier sitting next to her.
The Retainer said in a low voice. "I think I do know why I feel so comfortable here."
"Why is that?" Venus rose into a cross-legged position.
"Because you and your family have always made me feel welcome here. Many of the other nobles don't like to associate with me or my parents."
She shrugged. "It's because of some stupid lineage thing. I've always thought that was a bunch of sanctimonious manure." Venus smiled brightly and patted him on the arm. "Things will change someday, my friend. Until then you will carry on with your customary reserve and legendary tact."
"I will rejoice when that day happens, milady." The Retainer rose and pulled a small watch from his pocket. "I believe your parents wished us to be at dinner soon. Probably should get ready."
"Always the responsible one." Venus rose with a theatrical sigh. "You suck most of the fun from my day."
"My purpose in life, milady." The Retainer flashed a rare smile at her and the two set off for their quarters.
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"So, you never quite answered my question, Princess Venus."
"Hmm?"
The Retainer grinned. "If you will recall our last meeting, I sensed a bit of fear about you and posed a question. What do you fear? Now, you said you'd answer it next time. It is next time, and I await your answer."
He could have sworn he had seen her shiver. "I was hoping we wouldn't get to that unpleasant topic."
The man shrugged. "We both agreed that it would help if you talked about it. I am a captive audience."
Venus barked out a short laugh before allowing her face to twist into a painful parody of its usual cheeriness. "I'm not sure where to begin. It happened a long time ago.
"I was just a kid then, maybe thirteen then. It was a tough time. Middle school as a whole was a really tough time for me."
"Why is that?"
"Too many changes, physical and otherwise. My dad relocated a couple of times for his work, so we were always on the move. I always felt like I had to grow up a little too fast.
"As a kid, I was always attracted to the occult. Fortunes, zodiacs that sort of thing. And once a man who I cared very deeply about told me my fortune."
As if mesmerized, "And what did that fortune say?"
She paused, the pain etched across her face. "It said that I would never fall in love...that my fate would be to fight forever to find it."
A faint sense of recognition threaded through his eyes. "You were in love with this man?"
Venus replied brittlely. "I loved him with all my heart and soul."
The Retainer peered into Venus's eyes. He was tempted to come to a conclusion quickly...but somehow knew that there was something more to it. "What happened to the man?"
She replied almost more softly than he could hear. "He died in my arms."
He let a sigh escape his lips. "You are afraid that you will never fall in love...and that if you do you will hurt the one you have fallen in love with."
"Yes. No. I don't know anymore." Venus burst into tears. Without quite understanding why, the Retainer moved to scoop her into tight hug and whispered soft exclamations into her ear that everything would be all right.